Lombard Odier appoints Turkey market head as it targets the region

Swiss private bank Lombard Odier has appointed Tuncay Yilmaz as market head of Turkey, effective 3 August 2026, as it looks to build out its coverage of a growing pool of Turkish wealth.

Yilmaz brings close to 30 years in private banking and financial services, much of it spent with Turkish clients. He joins from UBS, where he spent the past 12 years, most recently as desk head for ultra-high and high-net-worth Turkish clients in Zurich. Earlier in his career he held management roles at BNP Paribas Suisse and at UBS in Geneva, with prior positions at Banque du Bosphore in Paris and Finansbank in Turkey.

Based in Geneva, Yilmaz will report to Ali Janoudi, head of Lombard Odier’s New Markets division, and will sit on the New Markets Management Forum. Janoudi joined the bank in 2024 to oversee growth across the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Africa. Cem Kösenem, who ran the Turkish market on an interim basis for the past two years, will continue as a senior banker reporting to Yilmaz.

The pull of the Turkish market

The appointment reflects a wider interest among private banks in Turkey, where nominal asset growth has been rapid and the population is young. The country is home to several established business dynasties, among them the Koç and Sabancı families, with interests spanning property, energy, retail and financial services. Serving that wealth from a Swiss booking centre is a familiar model for private banks courting entrepreneurs and families in emerging markets.

For a firm such as Lombard Odier, the move fits a broader push into new markets that combine fast wealth creation with a preference for offshore private banking. Whether the bet pays off will depend less on any single hire than on the bank’s ability to build durable relationships with families who tend to spread their assets across several institutions. The hire signals intent; the results will take longer to read.